It was lap 2 of 4, the 1600 meters, my first high school track-and-field race. I was “trotting” around the track, counting down the laps til I crossed the finish line for the last time, when I glanced down at my feet.
My shoe was untied.
That’s when I heard the shouts of my teammates, coach, and strangers. “Your shoe! Your shoe is untied!”
I remember shrugging and praying for the best.
I finished the race without a catastrophic wipeout (or a wipeout at all).
But I’ll never forget my first 1600 and the trial that accompanied it.
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I first started sports in middle school. I played soccer 6th through 8th grade and basketball 6th through 9th. In soccer, my 6th grade coach would make us run around the field for 20 minutes straight. I thought it was torture (little did I know…).
I enjoyed sports – the physical challenge and the connections with teammates. But in 10th and 11th grade, for a number of reasons, I decided to stop sports and try some different activities.
My senior year of high school, things changed again. I decided I wanted to run track.
It had always intrigued me. I remember telling my friends about my interest in joining the team. Many of them expressed the sentiment I have yet to stop hearing: “Won’t it be boring just to run?”
I don’t think running is boring.
I think it’s hard. Exhausting. Time-consuming. But never boring.
(Okay, one exception: the treadmill. The treadmill is boring.) 
So my senior year of high school, with no prior experience aside from other sports, I joined the track-and-field team.
I wasn’t very good, mind you. I ran the 1600, the 800, and the 400 relay. I made lots of personal records, but never placed that well in a pack.
But I fell in love with it. I caught the running bug.
That season of track-and-field inspired me to run cross country my freshman year at Lancaster Bible College.
Running changed me…for the better. I found that running allowed me time to process, to think, to pray, to worship God in a unique way. I learned the value of discipline and hard work and endurance to achieve an end goal. I was challenged with the idea of glorifying God through my sport. In the past 2 years, I’ve been faced with what it means to respond amidst injury.
And, perhaps most practical of all, I learned how to double knot my sneakers.
I love “the running bug.” Great post and I’ll always double knot.
Lindsey, you do a very nice job at engaging your audience with story telling. Breaking up the story into short paragraphs made it much easier to read. I appreciated how you brought up the part of running that allow you to think, pray and worship. I hadn’t thought about that before. Also, great reminder about double knotting 🙂
Great post! I love how it starts off as a story, it made an easy entrance into the rest of your post. I like how you acknowledge the “time consuming” nature of an activity like running, but then you demonstrate how Christians can use that time to connect with God away from the business of the rest of the world. Great job!